A crime spree that saw at least eight cars stolen from Rivertown communities over the weekend has police warning residents to be more careful about locking the vehicles.

Police in Hastings, Tarrytown, Ardsley and Greenburgh are investigating individual incidents where cars were left unlocked or unattended and stolen.

Thieves in Tarrytown stole two Mercedes from one home after using the garage opener inside the unlocked car to grab the keys from inside the home.

Officials are also looking into a Ford Explorer that was taken with the keys left inside.

A pair of cars were also taken from a gated community in Greenburgh after owners left them unlocked with key fobs inside.

Two more cars were taken in Ardsley, one with a key fob left behind and another on Sunday morning when the driver left a car running to grab something from a deli. The second car was eventually found in New Jersey.

A car with the keys inside was also taken early Monday morning in Hastings-on-Hudson.

Police are warning this is a crime of opportunity that is easily preventable.

"What I'm seeing a lot of is people leaving keys in their car and we're trying to advise our community not to do that,” says Chief David Dosin, of the Hastings-on-Hudson Police Department. "A lot of times they won't bother with trying and tampering to get into a car, they just want a quick, handle, and get in."

According to data from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, nearly half a million vehicles have been stolen in the first half of 2022.

Experts predict another 100,000 will be lifted before the year is up.

One way thieves are getting smarter is by checking their mirrors. Many high-end, modern cars leave the side mirrors out if the car is still unlocked.

Police say they are relying heavily on license plate readers at the Westchester Real-Time Crime Center to track where the stolen cars have gone and to recover them as quickly as possible.